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It's a telling sign that the boldest educational initiatives of the year came not from the chief education office or other state agencies but rather from advocates, parents, labor unions and others who decided that the best chance for helping Oregon students was to go directly to voters themselves.

It's a telling sign that the boldest educational initiatives of the year came not from the chief education office or other state agencies but rather from advocates, parents, labor unions and others who decided that the best chance for helping Oregon students was to go directly to voters themselves.

After all, you didn't see the governor and legislators move any proposals forward to provide stable funding for education or address the looming budget deficit that the state now faces. Or hear education officials lay out a statewide strategy for rolling out career and technical education as part of an overall plan for preparing high school students. And certainly, there weren't assurances from the Legislature that it would back previous legislation for outdoor education for middle schoolers with actual funding.

So in the face of such inaction, people took matters into their own hands, resulting in three ballot measures targeting those problems. Measures 97, 98 and 99 sought to boost funding through a massive corporate tax, dedicate money to career and technical education and earmark Lottery revenue to pay for outdoor school. And in the case of 98 and 99, supporters prevailed. While the merits or mechanics of any of the ballot measures can be debated, the initiatives themselves offer a scorching assessment of Oregon's educational leadership this year: Missing in action.

To be fair, there are a few hints that next year could be different. A group created by Gov. Kate Brown recently issued a report recommending ways to improve teacher training and advance their professional development. The state also came out with a long-awaited plan for combating chronic absenteeism, a core factor in the state's dismal graduation rate.

But it's unclear how much money will go to either plan with a $1.7 billion deficit bearing down on the state and threatening to devastate educational funding. Oregon has a long history of plans that seem to go by the wayside due to inadequate money, attention or both.

Can students pray in public schools? Can teachers say ‘Merry Christmas’? What’s allowed — and forbidden.

Can students can’t pray inside their public school buildings? Can teachers say “Merry Christmas” to their students? Can religious music be played in public schools?

Yes, yes and yes.

There has been a great deal of misunderstanding about what is allowed and not allowed when it comes to religious expression in public schools ever since the U.S. Supreme Court banned school-sponsored prayer in public schools in a landmark 1962 decision, saying that it violated the First Amendment. In fact, in 1995, then-President Bill Clinton issued a memo titled “Religious Expression in Public Schools,” that said in part:

It appears that some school officials, teachers and parents have assumed that religious expression of any type is either inappropriate, or forbidden altogether, in public schools.

As our courts have reaffirmed, however, nothing in the First Amendment converts our public schools into religion-free zones, or requires all religious expression to be left behind at the schoolhouse door. While the government may not use schools to coerce the consciences of our students, or to convey official endorsement of religion, the government’s schools also may not discriminate against private religious expression during the school day.

Schools are forbidden from initiating or sponsoring religious activities, including prayer, but religious groups are permitted to meet on school grounds after school, and students can pray to whatever or whomever they want at any time of day, as long as they do it privately and don’t try to force others to do the same. Religion can (and should) be a class subject — but not proselytized — in public schools, sacred music can be played in schools under certain circumstances, and schools can’t bar teachers or students from saying “Merry Christmas” to each other.

Charles C. Haynes, vice president of the Newseum Institute and founding director of the Religious Freedom Center, wrote this a few years ago. It still stands.

The claim that public schools are hostile to Christians may rev up caucusgoers in Iowa, but there’s only one problem: It isn’t true.

Truth be told, students of all faiths are actually free to pray alone or in groups during the school day, as long as they don’t disrupt the school or interfere with the rights of others. Of course, the right to engage in voluntary prayer or religious discussion does not necessarily include the right to preach to a captive audience, like an assembly, or to compel other students to participate.

Visit public schools anywhere in America today and you’re likely to see kids praying around the flagpole, sharing their faith with classmates, reading scriptures in free time, forming religious clubs, and in other ways bringing God with them through the schoolhouse door each day.

As for celebrating Christmas, students are free to say “Merry Christmas,” give Christmas messages to others, and organize Christmas devotionals in student Christian clubs.

It’s true that some public school officials still misunderstand (or ignore) the First Amendment by censoring student religious expression that is protected under current law. But when challenged in court, they invariably lose.

In fact, contrary to culture-war mythology, there is more student religious speech and practice in public schools today than at any time in the past 100 years.

When politicians demonize the courts for banning God from schools, they count on public confusion about the First Amendment distinction between government speech promoting religion, which the establishment clause prohibits, and student speech promoting religion, which the free-exercise and free-speech clauses protect.

The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled that kids can’t pray in school. What the Court has done — and continues to do — is to strike down school-sponsored prayers and devotional exercises as violations of religious liberty.

As a result of those decisions, school officials may not impose prayers, or organize prayer events, or turn the school auditorium into the local church for religious celebrations.

Students, however, aren’t the government; they can — and often do — openly pray and share their faith in public schools.

President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle and Rabbi Rachel Isaacs join Chemi Peres and Mika Almog for the menorah lighting during Hanukkah in the East Room of the White House, Dec. 14, 2016. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

Summary:

The President and First Lady held their final Hanukkah receptions at the White House this week. Watch the President's remarks from each one.

"I want to say how much Michelle and I appreciate the opportunities to have celebrated so many Hanukkahs with you in the White House ... As many of you know, the name “Hanukkah” comes from the Hebrew word for “dedication.” So we want to thank you again for your dedication to our country, to the historic progress that we’ve made, to the defense of religious freedom in the United States and around the world."

—President Obama at the 2016 Hanukkah celebration

This week, President and First Lady Obama welcomed more than 1,000 people to join in two White House Hanukkah receptions. Over the past eight years, the President has established a tradition of inviting special guests to light Menorahs of great significance here in the White House. In his final year, the President invited family members of the late Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel and the late Israeli Prime Minister and President Shimon Peres to join him and the First Lady in celebrating Hanukkah.

The Menorah at the first reception was made in kindergarten by Shira Wiesel, the granddaughter of Elie Wiesel. This menorah, though young in shelf life, carries with it the enduring spirit of a people, and of a special family. Elie Wiesel bore witness to one of the darkest chapters in history. He devoted his life to shedding light on the horrors of the Holocaust through acclaimed books like “Night.” Shira’s menorah is more than the innocent creativity of a young school child. It is a testament to the resilience of a family and of a people; it is a flicker of hope in the promise of a new generation; it is the next chapter to the living memorial that was and will forever be Elie Wiesel.

Watch the President's remarks at the afternoon Hanukkah reception:

The Menorah in the second reception belongs to the family of late Israeli President Shimon Peres. During the Holocaust, the menorah was entrusted to a righteous neighbor, who promised to safeguard it in case the family was captured. But one year later, despite the risks, the family quietly locked the doors and closed the windows. They unpacked the menorah and lit the candles to remember and honor the miracle of the Hanukkah story. Days later, German officers raided and burned down the neighbor’s house. All was destroyed, except this menorah.

The Walden family survived the raid and the war, and eventually moved to Israel in 1952. Among their meager belongings, they brought their menorah. Two decades later, their son Raphael married Tsvia Peres, the only daughter of Sonia and Shimon Peres, one of Israel’s founding fathers and most prominent lights. The two families have since gathered together every Hanukkah to light this menorah and recall the miracle of its existence and the Jewish people’s continued survival.

Both of the these Menorahs underscore the spirit of Hanukkah and remind us that light will prevail even in the darkest of times. We are honored to light the Menorah for the last time at the White House alongside both the Wiesel and Peres families.

Watch the President's remarks at the evening Hanukkah reception:

From all of us at the White House, Chag Orim Sameach and Happy Hanukkah!